Highlights from FinCon 2012

Where do I begin? I’m a little late writing about FinCon12 which seems fitting because I didn’t get there until Thursday night. I think of it as fashionably late. Either way I was right on time for many of the scheduled events.

Man Versus Nature
I was so excited to participate in the service project at Lincoln Park in Denver, Colorado. It was enjoyable to meet other people from the conference in this setting. We all got a crash course in planting trees. It was an opportunity to work as a team, give back, bond and have random money chats. It was a pleasure to have Natalie, Dorethia, Mike and others on my team. Was it a surprise that Mike was an excellent landscaper? One of his websites is about renting out rooms. That skill must come in handy for a landlord. Thanks for the credit card and frequent flyer information too. I will be looking into your recommendations.

Man Versus Debt
I was up early on Friday to see the presentation by Adam Baker of ManVersus Debt. Once he began to speak, it was very clear that his focus was about man versus self. He conveyed a poignant message about focusing on the “why” of our business. In a nutshell, he explains how the heart of our business should stem from the essence of our own purpose and why we do what we do. Although I can’t readily verbalize my own “why”, I know it’s there somewhere. I added that hefty homework assignment to my to do list in my handy Fincon notebook. For the mean time, I continued through the workshops with my motto “why not?”

Why not. . .

After seeing Jeff Rose speak, why not explore the possibilities of what videos can bring to your audience?

Why not take your business offline and profit? Andrea Amir has done so.

Why not try to get your name in magazines? Linsey Knerl showed us what to do.

Why not launch a new fashion trend when you hear that bloggers don’t write enough about the topic?;0)

Man Versus Bling

I learned a great deal whether it was listening to formal presentations or chatting with Brian from T. Rowe Price about baseball, groceries and what Larry Bird has to do with refinancing. I found conversing with a Penny Pinchin’ Mom at happy hour just as informative as a formal presentation. I also learned that making jewelry for random conference goers is gratifying. It’s interesting to see how fast you can turn strangers into friends. It’s funny how crazy people tend to find each other. I’m so happy I was able to hang out with Diane, Jackie, Shareeke, and many others. We went from casually chatting about websites to singing Pink songs to each other in a matter of hours. I only had one drink. Thank goodness you came to my table at happy hour. I think my energy came back right before I left.

I had to leave Saturday night. I couldn’t find a flight that would get me home on Sunday without disrupting my family’s schedule too much. Before coming, I was deeply bummed knowing that I wouldn’t get to see JD Roth’s presentation live. I was happy to get to chat with him though. He even accepted my custom made 90’s bling as a farewell present. I never would have expected him to wear it the next day at the conference. Virtual high five to that. You just made my day (year)! Maybe the financial blogging community does need to write more about fashion and travel. Why not?

10 responses to “Highlights from FinCon 2012”

The thing is, I meant to weave the bling into my final talk. I had a point I was going to make. I even MADE the point. But I forgot to mention how the bling connected to it. So, for most of the people at the the conference, I was just being a giant dork wearing plastic wristbands and lik-m-aid around his neck.